Fall Arts: Calendar of Events

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Through Oct. 20 Austere Beauty: The Art of Z. Vanessa Helder The Washington State native (1904–1968) evolved from watercolor landscapes to Hopperesque urban scenes during her long career. Tacoma Art Museum, tacomaartmuseum.org

Through Oct. 20 Joshua Kohl The local composer bases new work on his father’s poetry. Also on view: Mark Mitchell’s burial costumes. Frye Art Museum, fryemuseum.org

• Through Oct. 27 Patti Warashina: Wit and Wisdom The local master of ceramics receives a 50-year career retrospective. Bellevue Arts Museum, bellevuearts.org

Through Oct. 27 The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection The famed New York collectors gave away most of their trove for the initiative Fifty Works for Fifty States. SAM’s gifts include works by Stephen Antonakos, Sol LeWitt, Terry Winters, Cheryl Laemmle, Robert Mangold, and others. Seattle Art Museum, seattleartmuseum.org

Through Nov. 3 Minimal Art and Its Legacy Works by Richard Serra and others are on view. Seattle Art Museum

• Through Dec. 1 Celluloid Seattle SEE RELATED STORY. Also ongoing are permanent exhibits documenting Seattle’s houseboats and maritime history. Museum of History & Industry, mohai.org

Through Dec. 1 In a Silent Way African-American history and identity are considered in works by Roy deCarava, David Hammons, Carrie Mae Weems, Glenn Ligon, and others. Seattle Art Museum

Through Dec. 31 Sitting for History: Exploring Self-Identity Through Portraiture Over 60 paintings and photographs are on view, with artists ranging from Renoir to Chuck Close. Tacoma Art Museum

• Through Jan. 2014 Rick Araluce: The Minutes, the Hours, the Days In his first solo museum show, the Seattle artist builds immersive sculptural environments with doors, keyholes, thresholds, and other means of guiding the eye. Bellevue Arts Museum

Through June 29, 2014 Hometown Boy Contemporary Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong is represented by three decades of painting. Also on view: Inked, a collection of satirical drawings by by Wan Qingli. Seattle Asian Art Museum

21–Jan. 5 David Hartt In Stray Light, the photographer chronicles African-American history through its own media, including images and recreations of the publishing offices of Jet and Ebony magazines. (Also on view: the stark, black-and-white photographs of Ray K. Metzker.) Henry Art Gallery, henryart.org

22 Ann Fisher-Wirth The editor of The Ecopoetry Anthology reads American poetry about nature and the environment. Elliott Bay Book Co.

• 25 Twyla Tharp The iconic American choreographer discusses and rehearses her latest creation, Waiting at the Station, part of her Air Twyla week running at PNB from Sept. 27–Oct. 6. SEE RELATED STORY. McCaw Hall, pnb.org

• 25 Christopher Parker The UW professor and author of Change They Can’t Believe In discusses the political connection between the Tea Party and the 19th-century Know-Nothing Party. University Book Store

25 An Experiment in Design Production: The Enduring Birds of iittala This open-ended show features wood ducks and other creations by Finnish artist Oiva Tokkia. (Also on view: Chihuly’s Irish Cylinders, with motifs inspired by James Joyce’s Ulysses.) Museum of Glass, museumofglass.org

25 Dane Cook Love him or hate him, the popular comic will probably fill the hall. The Paramount

• 26 Wayne Horvitz The local jazz eminence is joined by Trio Pardalote and pianist Cristina Valdes. Cornish College of the Arts, cornish.edu

• 26–29 The Fall Kick-Off + Big Bang! Velocity is turning the usual structure on its head, opening this run with a performance-art blowout on Thursday, then presenting three nights highlighting Seattle’s contemporary-dance community. As always, the mixed bills are a chance to catch up with favorite artists and meet new talent—the party should be a great introduction to a season packed with kinetic energy. SANDRA KURTZ Velocity Dance Center, velocitydancecenter.org

• 26–Dec. 5 Ride the Night SAM’s Annual Film Noir Series begins with Alan Ladd in This Gun for Hire. The Thursday-night retrospective continues with titles including M, Kiss Me Deadly, and The Lady From Shanghai. Seattle Art Museum

27 Robin Layton The photographer discusses Hoop: The American Dream, with images of the most revered basketball players of our time. Elliott Bay Book Co.

27 W. Thomas Porter He’ll discuss his history of UW football, Go Huskies!. University Book Store

27 Don JonJoseph Gordon-Levitt has a porn addiction, which is hurting his chances with Scarlett Johansson. Opens wide

• 27–Oct. 3 Local Sightings Film Festival Over a dozen features from around the Northwest are screened at this annual showcase for regional cinema. Northwest Film Forum, nwfilmforum.org

27–Oct. 3 Our NixonHome movies made inside the White House reveal a new portrait of Tricky Dick. Grand Illusion, grandillusioncinema.org

• 27–Oct. 3 Local Sightings Film Festival The annual showcase for indies from the greater Pacific Northwest. Northwest Film Forum, nwfilmforum.org

• 27–Oct. 6 Air Twyla Twyla Tharp’s back as PNB’s first official artist in residence. She’s been in the studio since last winter, buffing up the repertory and crafting new works. With Waiting at the Station, she returns to American vernacular music (this time a score by New Orleans R&B artist Allen Toussaint), which has fueled some of her most interesting dances over a career full of amazing things. Famously private about rehearsals, she’ll make Waiting a surprise for everyone at its premiere, where it joins a new-to-us staging of her Brief Fling and the return of Nine Sinatra Songs. SK McCaw Hall, pnb.org

1 Nicholas Sparks The author of The Notebook returns with The Longest Ride. Will there be a Hollywood adaptation with Ryan Gosling? Seattle film gadfly Warren Etheredge will ask him just that question Town Hall

1–31 Revealed: In Search of Bruce Lee A walking tour of the ID in search of the late kung fu icon. Hing Hay Park, wingluke.org

• 1–Nov. 17 Earshot Jazz Festival The highlight of the year’s jazz calendar, celebrating its 25th anniversary. Boldface names include Bill Frisell, Philip Glass, and John Scofield. A separate film series is also set for Northwest Film Forum (Oct. 18–24). Various venues, earshot.org.

2 Jamie McGuire reads and signs her new novel Red Hill. University Book Store

2–19The Taming Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew is turned into a Southern-set political farce. Arts West, artwest.org

• 3 First Thursday Art Walk All the galleries in and around Pioneer Square are open late. firstthursdayseattle.com

3 Our Roots Are Showing: Voices of Black Men Short plays and other texts are read. Northwest African-American Museum, naamnw.org

• 3 Martin Short From his early days on SCTV, creating the indelible characters Ed Grimley and Jackie Rogers Jr., this veteran funnyman has a genius for spoofing the business we call show, affectionately laughing at the foibles on both sides of the footlights. The Paramount

• 3–5 Axis Dance Company The work that Judith Smith and her crew of mixed-ability movement artists present is the opposite of what critic Arlene Croce has called ??victim art.” The goal is to make compelling choreography for the variety of performers in the ensemble, whatever their skills and limitations. Here, a wheelchair is as important for its aesthetic potential as for its basic function—extending possibilities for the artist in it, no matter who they are. SKMeany Hall, uwworldseries.org

4–10 ParklandZac Efron and others get caught up in the assassination of JFK. Sundance Cinemas, sundancecinemas.com

4–13 Seattle South Asian Film Festival Among a dozen-plus features and docs, the director Mira Nair is hoped to attend for her The Reluctant Fundamentalist. SIFF Film Center and other venues, tasveer.org

• 4–20 Spectrum Dance Theater Donald Byrd starts his second decade at the company with his same usual intensity. Spectrum opens its fall season with his take on George Balanchine’s Prodigal Son. But the real excitement might be the revival of his controversial 1991 The Minstrel Show (in a Nov. 8 workshop before a February run). This radical work placed Byrd in the critical spotlight when he examined this discredited old theatrical idiom. You’ll see why. Madrona Dance Center, spectrumdance.org

4–26 Cannibal! The Musical!Written by those South Park guys, the comedy revue is a fun Halloween season choice. Unexpected Productions

• 6 Byron Schenkman and Friends The expert keyboardist, a longtime Seattle favorite, explores his favorite chamber music in this new series, launching with Beethoven. Benaroya Recital Hall, byronschenkman.com

7 Matthew J. KirbyThe Lost Kingdom is his new adventure/mystery novel.University Book Store

• 7 Salman Rushdie The reviews weren’t kind for his fictionalized memoir Joseph Anton: A Memoir (new in paperback), but he’s an erudite and witty speaker on any subject, including his own eventful life. Town Hall

8 Mark Lanegan The former Screaming Trees frontman’s latest is Imitations. The Neptune

8 Theron Humphrey The photographer captured his experiences on a cross-country trip and chronicled them in his book Maddie on Things: A Super Serious Project About Dogs and Physics. University Book Store

9 Jesmyn Ward The author of Salvage the Bones recounts the losses of five men in her life in rural Mississippi. Town Hall

9–13 The Wizard of OzWith all the old songs by Arlen and Harburg and new ones by Rice and Lloyd Webber. The Paramount

10 Donald Levering discusses and signs his new book Algonquins Planted Salmon. University Book Store

10–13 Heather Kravas Her dance piece the quartet is “a cult, an essence, a machine, a snowflake, a Utopia, and a quotation mark.” On the Boards

10–13 Social Justice Film Festival Over 60 titles will be screened, mostly documentaries, plus a visit from Sister Helen Prejean, played by Sudan Sarandon in Dead Man Walking. Cinerama and other venues, socialjusticefilmfestival.org

• 10–13 Chamber Dance Company As elsewhere in our culture, gender has been a topic of animated conversation in the dance world. Hannah Wiley’s programming for In-Gender lays out a variety of positions on the subject. During the early part of the last century, modernist choreographer Doris Humphrey gave us the ideal female in Air for the G String and a history lesson in Shakers. By the end of that millennium, choreographers like Zvi Gotheiner (Brazilian Duets) and Doug Varone (Possession) have a much more slippery relationship with boys and girls. In between is Twyla Tharp, striding forward as always, as she breaks down our expectations of what men and women want in The Fugue. SK Meany Hall, meany.org

• 10–20 Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Parties, music, and even stage performances attend this celebration of queer cinema, this year including documentary tributes to Divine and Moms Mabley. Multiple venues, threedollarbillcinema.org

11 Machete KillsYou don’t need more than the title to sell this bloody sequel, again pairing director Robert Rodriguez with Danny Trejo, the Charles Bronson of our fallen times. Opens wide

• 11 Malcolm Gladwell Seattle Arts & Lectures presents the prolific New Yorker journalist and author of the new David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. Town Hall, lectures.org

16 Martin Schoeller He takes huge color portraits of subjects including Barack Obama, Angelina Jolie, and George Clooney in Close Up. Over 50 images will be on view. End date pending. EMP Museum, empmuseum.org

17 Edwidge Danticat The best-selling author of Brother returns with her new Claire of the Sea Light. Town Hall

17 Gordon Orians The UW professor emeritus of biology discusses and signs his North Pacific Temperate Rainforests.University Book Store

• 17–Jan. 5 Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon SAM exhibits sculpture, metalwork, painting, and textiles from 3,000 years extending from pre-Columbian times into the 20th century. Seattle Art Museum

18 The Avett Brothers The tireless tour hounds return to Seattle after last year’s Rick Rubin-produced The Carpenter. Key Arena

18 Brenda Cooper reads and signs The Diamond Deep. University Book Store

• 18 All Is Lost Robert Redford goes sailing, then sinks and tries to survive in this new one-man drama from J.C. Chandor (Margin Call). Opens wide

18 Affect & Audience in the Digital Age A seminar that explores the arts of digital meditation in contemporary poetry. Henry Art Gallery

• 18 Seattle Symphony The [untitled] series, late-night new-music concerts (the best idea the SSO’s had in years), opens with music by John Zorn and more. Benaroya Hall

18 CarrieYes, it’s a remake of the 1976 Carrie, based on Stephen King’s novel, this time with Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick Ass) as the teen with supernatural powers and Julianne Moore as her horrid, resentful mother. Opens wide

19–Jan. 26 Jason Dodge For his show What We Have Done, the sculptor employs ordinary household material like copper pipe and pillows. Also on view: A large sculptural installation made of Venetian blinds by the Korean-born artist Haegue Yang (through Feb. 9). Henry Art Gallery

20 Onyx Chamber Ensemble Music for piano and strings, including a brief piece by a very young Mahler. First Church Seattle, onyxchamberplayers.com

• 20 Adam Carolla The reliable funnyman will be taping one of his typically discursive and grouchy podcasts. The Neptune

20–21 12 Minutes Max OTB’s periodic showcase of new short works. On the Boards

21 Sara Farizan reads and signs her new book If You Could Be Mine.University Book Store

22 Stephen Jimenez The award-winning journalist and writer signs The Book of Matt, which reveals the hidden truths about the murder of Matthew Shepard. University Book Store

• 26 & 30 The Met: Live in HD Another season of broadcasts from NYC features Shostakovich’s surreally irreverent The Nose. Various venues, metopera.org

27 McCaw Hall Day of Celebration Has it been 10 years already? McCaw Hall, mccawhall.com

28–Nov. 7 The Best of National Theatre Live Hamlet, Othello, and a Kenneth Branagh Macbeth will be presented. SIFF Cnema Uptown

• 29 William Todd Schultz He talks with handsome SW editor-in-chief Mark Baumgarten about Torment Saint, his new biography of rock star Elliott Smith. Town Hall

30 Darrin McMahon The historian (Divine Fury) shares his insights on the concept of genius. Town Hall

• 30 Simon Winchester The erudite Brit, who lives in the U.S., talks about his The Men Who United the States: America’s Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics and Mavericks, at the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible. Seattle Central Library

5 Garland Jeffreys & Lincoln Barr of Red Jacket Mine The New York–based singer/songwriter and friend of Lou Reed will perform cuts from his latest release, The King of In Between. Triple Door, thetripledoor.net

13–24 The Fifth of July Lanford Wilson’s dramedy explores the legacy of the Vietnam War. Meany Studio Theater, depts.washington.edu/uwdrama

• 14 Joe Sacco The Great War is his illustrated new account of World War I’s horrible Battle of the Somme. Town Hall

• 14–17 Cédric AndrieuxJérôme Bel seems to like thinking about dance as much as dancing itself. His works often draw on literary theory and postmodern aesthetics as much as on sheer kinetic impulse. Like a rap artist, he borrows movements from other choreographers, selecting and assembling them into mashups. The results are governed by the logic of the ideas as well as the motion itself. For Cédric Andrieux, danced by Cédric Andrieux, Bel has created a kind of art memoir, combining spoken biography with excerpts from Andrieux’s own repertoire (including work with Merce Cunningham and Trisha Brown). As he revisits his own history, we see a slice of what life is like for a dancer at the beginning of the new century. Bel has put a frame around Andrieux himself, making the artist into the artwork. SK On the Boards

14–21 Cinema Italian Style SIFF presents a fresh crop of new titles from the boot of Europe. SIFF Cinema Uptown

15 Switchfoot The alternative rock band is touring in advance of 2014’s Fading West. The Moore

15 The Wolf of Wall StreetMartin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are back together again, this time plumbing a true-crime tale of financial fraud in the ’90s (like it ever ended). Opens wide

15 Gramatik This electronica artist performs with heRobust and Exmag. Showbox at the Market, showboxpresents.com

23–March 9 Elwha: A River Reborn Now that the dams are mostly gone from the once-salmon-rich river on the Olympic Peninsula, this exhibit chronicles its steady revival. The show is based on the Seattle Times reporting of Linda Mapes and photography of Steve Ringman. Burke Museum

24 Philharmonia Northwest San Francisco bassist/composer David Arend wrote his Three Sheets to the Wind, premiered here, for himself and Seattle saxophonist Michael Brockman. St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, philharmonianw.org

27 The Buckaroos A “Thanksgiving Eve Special” from this Chippendales sendup. Triple Door

29–Dec. 31Oliver The popular Broadway adaptation of Dickens’ Oliver Twist features a mob of singing child actors. 5th Avenue Theatre

30–Dec. 22 Seattle Men’s Chorus For many, the holidays would be bleak and sere without this annual sparklefest. Various venues, flyinghouse.org

• 30–Dec. 29 NutcrackerSeattle Center will swarm with legions of little girls in their holiday dresses for this seasonal favorite. And the morning after the show, all will demand dance lessons. McCaw Hall, pnb.org

12 Jackie Evancho The little girl with the big soprano. (She and Downton Abbey are keeping PBS alive.) The Paramount

13 The Hobbit: The Desolation of SmaugPart II of Peter Jackson’s epic stretching of Tolkien’s single book, which will be completed a year from now, after hundreds of millions of dollars are amassed. Opens wide

12–13 The Thrill of the Hunt: The Unicorn Tapestries They once adorned the walls of affluent aristocrats. Frye Art Museum, fryemuseum.org

• 14 Neal Kosaly-Meyer Another installment of his Gradus: for Fux, Tesla, and Milo the Wrestler, a long-term performance project in which the composer is exploring the piano’s possibilities one key at a time. Chapel Performance Space

• 14 & 18 The Met: Live in HD Conductor James Levine, not seen in the Met pit for health reasons since spring 2011, returns with a new production of Verdi’s Falstaff. Various venues, metopera.org

18 The Monuments Men George Clooney sets out to save the treasures of European art from the Nazis during the waning days of World War II. Did we happen to mention that Clooney hates Nazis? He hates them. Opens wide

20 Anchorman 2 Stay classy, Atlanta? Ron Burgundy and company grapple with the strange new invention of cable TV. And the 1980s. Opens wide

• 20 Inside Llewyn Davis The Coen brothers’ latest, about the pre-Dylan folk scene in early ’60s New York, has wowed everyone on the festival circuit. This could be another Oscar shot for the pair. Opens wide

20–22 Cirque Dreams Holidaze Seasonal circus from a cast of 30. The Paramount

21 Cafe Racer’s Crafts & Curiosities Show Local craft and swap-meet people bring you eclectic items in a cafe setting. Cafe Racer, seattleartists.com

• 25 American HustleDavid O. Russell follows Silver Linings Playbook with a news-inspired story (about corrupt politicians and bribery) set in the polyester-fabulous late ’70s. Better still, his cast includes Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert De Niro. The trailer kicks ass. Get in line early. Opens wide

25 The Secret Life of Walter MittyBen Stiller is betting big, as both director and star, in this expensive take on the James Thurber story. Danny Kaye went there before in 1947 as the schmuck with an overactive imagination. The Thurber story was published in 1939. What new CGI twist does Stiller hope to add? Opens wide

• 27 12 Years a SlaveThough the release date may bump to January, the latest film from Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame) stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as a free New Yorker forced into servitude before the Civil War. Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt co-star. There is big festival and Oscar buzz behind this one, which is based on the memoirs of Solomon Northup. Opens wide

27–28 Built to Spill Doug Martsch and crew will perform their instrumental brand of indie rock. Neumos